Melania Trump’s glossy documentary opened in London on Friday to an audience that barely filled a row. At Vue Islington, one of the UK cinema chain’s flagship venues, the 3:10 p.m. premiere of Melania sold a single ticket. A later 6 p.m. screening attracted two more people. Upcoming showings in the cinema’s 25-seat auditorium remain largely empty.
The muted UK debut landed just days after Donald Trump flooded social media with photos from a VIP-packed screening in New York, declaring the film “a MUST WATCH” and insisting tickets were “selling out, FAST!” (Although netizens have recently fact-checked the president’s outlandish claims.)
Both things can be true, and that’s the point.
The single ticket they sold in the UK for the Melania movie can be explained away because an employee was testing out the system due to the fact that they have never sold zero tickets for anything before. pic.twitter.com/OdJrlZyZfZ
— 😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 (@aintscarylarry) January 27, 2026
While Melania has been promoted aggressively in the United States, its UK rollout appears designed less to succeed than to quietly disappear. Industry sources say the film is likely being released under a “four-walling” arrangement, where distributors pay cinemas a flat fee to screen the movie rather than sharing box office revenue.
According to Irish Star, that setup all but guarantees one thing and that is that weak ticket sales may never be publicly reported.
“I’d be amazed if box office gets reported on this title,” one industry source told UK media, noting that four-walled releases often bypass standard reporting systems altogether.
Vue chief executive Tim Richards confirmed that ticket sales for Melania have been “soft,” adding that the chain received customer complaints over the decision to screen the film at all. The company has not released official figures, and it remains unclear whether UK box office data will ever be logged with tracking services like Comscore.
I’m sorry, this is hilarious !
𝐎𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐝 for UK première of Melania’s film – sales being described as “𝙨𝙤𝙛𝙩” 🤡
Trump just lies about it being a sell-out, of course he does ! Who frankly would go and see such a thing ? 🤡 pic.twitter.com/GR6TauwKZj
— Alex Taylor (@AlexTaylorNews) January 27, 2026
Amazon MGM Studios reportedly paid around $40 million for the documentary and committed an additional $35 million to marketing — spending that has overwhelmingly focused on the U.S. The film was not screened for critics ahead of release and instead Melania debuted through controlled events, including an exclusive White House screening hosted by Melania Trump and director Brett Ratner. Not even Donald Trump himself had watched the movie in its entirety before its release.
Filmed over the 20 days leading up to Donald Trump’s January 2025 inauguration, the documentary follows the first lady through transition planning and her return to the East Wing. Amazon’s promotional materials promise “never-before-seen” access and private conversations.
And while it seems as if the movie has all the hallmarks of a blockbuster, the international release strategy tells a different story.
So since Melania’s Documentary is a Dud and nobody is buying tickets to see it at the Kennedy Center or anywhere else so they’re Four walling it which is where the distributor buys up all the seats so it looks like they were sold out when they weren’t at all! Desperate! 🤣 pic.twitter.com/4hKKHZMFtr
— Suzie rizzio (@Suzierizzo1) January 22, 2026
In the UK, Melania opened against a crowded slate of commercial films, including studio action releases and awards-season contenders. Despite playing on more than 100 screens nationwide, early bookings were thin across major chains, with entire rows unsold in multiple locations.
The approach has raised eyebrows in the exhibition industry. Four-walling allows a film to claim a “wide release” without the reputational risk of public failure which is a useful insurance policy when prestige, not profit, is the real objective. And being the First Family of America, reputation is everything.
Trump has continued to promote the film online, insisting demand is surging. In Britain, at least, the evidence suggests otherwise.
One ticket. Two seats. And a release plan built so no one has to say it out loud.
